This leaves any existing links intact and functional while adding the option of using different versions with the same template.
-- Sans Deity 18:54, 7 September 2006 (CDT)

I agree with the idea, but wouldn't it be better (if possible) to use something more like:

{{Bible|Genesis 5:3|version=niv}} uses NIV

{{Bible|Genesis 5:3|version=asv}} uses American Standard

etc? I put the version at the end, though it could be either. --Kazim 04:53, 8 September 2006 (CDT)

I thought of that, but it's far more complicated. I suppose I could write a "switch" template to do that (which is a utility why might use elsewhere as well). Hmmm, I wonder if the interwiki includes support for two different variables. I'll look into that solution as well. I'm going to be eliminating more duplicate and useless templates as I get time - this was just a preemptive strike to avoid having "Template:Bible" and "Template:BibleX". - Sans Deity 09:43, 8 September 2006 (CDT)

Gah, this template suffers from the same bug as Template:WP-name: spaces in the URL aren't properly escaped.
--Arensb 20:06, 31 July 2006 (MST)

Add an icon, for clarity?

The Bible template provides links to Bible passages. But these links look just like internal links. External links, like the one below, have an icon to indicate that this is an external link.

Wikimedia Commons has a public domain icon of a Bible which could be scaled down and added to the end of links produced by Template:Bible, like this:

This would visually distinguish links that allow a reader to look up the passage being discussed, from links to Iron Chariots commentary on that particular passage.
Comments?
--Arensb 14:51, 12 March 2007 (CDT)

The problem I have with this is that every icon is now a clickable link back to the icon's page. Hopefully there's a better solution. Sans Deity 16:19, 15 March 2007 (CDT)

The way that external links work is with CSS: look for a specification for #bodyContent a.external in monobook/main.css. The way it works is a bit of a hack: it pads each link by 13 pixels on the right (enough to insert a 13x13 image) and uses external.png as a background, flush right, non-repeated. This effectively makes the image part of the link.

Obviously, I can't make this change myself. --Arensb 19:45, 15 March 2007 (CDT)

What about us?

Another problem with this template is that it bypasses our own articles about the books of the Bible. How about linking the book name to our article but the chapter/verse (and, if possible, the open-Bible icon) to the Bible Gateway passage? Like this: Genesis4:1-3. This might introduce a little confusion, especially with short, one- or two-character chapter references (e.g., Deuteronomy4), where it's easier to overlook the fact that there's two different links being presented, but that can be minimized by linking the icon, as well. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do that. (Note: This comment uses Template:Sandbox, which is subject to change at any time. Revert it back to my last version if it's been changed to see what I'm talking about.) - dcljr 16:51, 7 June 2007 (CDT)

Changed above comment to use my userspace instead of {{sandbox}}, so has some measure of permanence. - dcljr 02:07, 22 August 2007 (CDT)